Words at the Roadside

Two men met a third man, on horseback, on a country road. One of the two raised a rifle at the rider. The accused stood nearby. Witnesses a hundred yards away heard him laugh and call out to the rider to take off his hat and die like a man. The rifleman then shot the rider dead. The accused says he never encouraged the shooting and was trying to stop his companion. He was charged with murder as an accomplice. The law requires that words of encouragement be meant to help the crime.